Kerry Cooper (Germain) was a 1970s skater who is mostly under the radar, but her name occasionally appeared in contest results, starting back in 1976. At the Ventura 2nd Annual Skateboard Championships, Kerry placed 2nd in freestyle behind Laura Thornhill for Girls 11-14, ahead of Tracy Alaway, Bonnie Kaplan, and Gloria Blanchard. Contests were still in their infancy, and this video gives a sense of the fun and chaos:
Kerry followed up a few months later with a win at the Thousand Oaks Contest, sponsored by the Aquanetics Surf Shop, ahead of Becky Martinez, Kym Milburn, and Lynnette Fraas. The October 1976 issue of National Skateboard Review noted that there were over one hundred entries, as Erbes Road was a long, isolated stretch and centrally located, appealing to skaters from northern and southern California.
While representing the Malibu Team, Kerry placed 3rd at the California State Championships in Freestyle, October 1977 at Carson Runway skatepark, behind Julie Cheng and Tara Kaylor. Jim Goodrich took a fantastic photo of Kerry, most likely at this event (The Runway) of her holding a solid hand-stand, which was published in the April 1978 issue of Skateboarder.
In an August 1978 article about Wendy Gooding, who was a skater and secretary at the Reseda Skatercross park, it’s mentioned that Kerry and Cindy Hernandez were part of the scene, and were possibly coached by Gooding who exceled in pool and was pro for Sims. Glen E. Friedman documented Kerry’s progress while skating Reseda, and the image was included in a book (misspelling her name as ‘Cary’).
From there, Kerry became part of the 1978 SkateboardMania show, which was a touring spectacle involving costumes, special effects, and skateboarding!
There’s a photo by Jeff Ruiz from the December 1978 issue of Skateboarder with Leilani Kiyabu, Vicki Vickers, Kerry, and Laurie McDonald, all SkateboardMania performers taking a break from their practise. Kerry made friends with Judi Oyama at the time, who was also on the six-week tour. In a blog entry, Judi shared that the show was a million dollar production, and the skaters lived in a Holiday Inn off the Hollywood Boulevard, so they could practise in the Long Beach Arena.
Unfortunately, due to some behind-the-scenes drama involving the head director, the SkateboardMania show was cancelled. Judi took off for “Hawaii for 5 weeks and ran into Kerry who was hanging out with her sister on the Northshore. Dano [Devine] a professional surf/skate photographer from Santa Cruz was based on the Northshore for the winter surf wanted to do a photo shoot with us. We poached Rory Russell’s ramp at Pipeline and then did some random hill runs with Dano sitting on the hood of the old rusted out car.”
Photos: Dan Devine with Kerry on Rory Russell’s ramp and locking in a hang-ten.
The 1979 Judi / Kerry adventure in Hawaii sounded like a blast, and it’s so wonderful that Dan Devine captured such memorable moments. Judi noted that there were many talented skaters, like Kerry Cooper who never made it consistently into the magazines, but they still ripped!
Kerry must have enjoyed the vibe in Hawaii, because she ended up publishing a series of children’s picture books in the early 2000s about surfing and a child’s life in Hawaii, with two of the titles winning awards from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association. She lives on the North Shore of O‘ahu.
Photos: Jim Goodrich, Glen E. Friedman, Jeff Ruiz, Dan Devine
Womxn Skateboard History 